Disney’s Magical Express Now Picking Up Guests 4 Hours Before Their Flight

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Due to the increase in TSA security screening times at Orlando International Airport, Disney’s Magical Express will now pick up guests from their Walt Disney World resort hotel four hours prior to their scheduled flight time. This policy will go into effect on November 17, 2017.

Disney has stated that the policy will be re-evaluated in early 2018 after the busy holiday season is over.

Previously, Disney’s Magical Express would pick up guess from their hotel 3 hours in advance for domestic flights and 4 hours in advance of international.

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About the author

Tom Corless

Tom has been regularly visiting the Walt Disney World® Resort from the time he was 4 months old. While he has made countless visits in the last 28 years, he did not become a truly active member in the Disney fan community until the summer of 2007, when he decided to launch the WDW News Today website and podcast. Tom has since become an Orlando-local and is a published author on Walt Disney World.
Contact Tom at tom@wdwnt.com.

I guess you have never been to Logan airport in Boston. Cut them some slack the Orlando TSA guy just grabbed a smoking bag last week to protect people like you. Its not their fault the airport is getting triple the number of people it was built to handle

TOTALLY agree. Our last trip in October I was stunned how insane the TSA lines in MCO were. They aren’t that insane in large cities like NYC or LA. It took us over an hour, and our party got separated due to the lines being constantly rerouted and being barked at and herded by the TSA agents

4 hours is extremely excessive. I completely understand that the TSA security lines at Orlando airport are insanely horrible, but to be there that early for a flight is nonsense, especially if you are flying out first thing in the morning.

Yes. And for a 6:30 am flight I had back in October, a bunch of us were there just sitting around since NOTHING at the airport is open (not even TSA) when we got there before 3 am. Just construction workers. The Magical Express ride was pretty fast that morning since there was probably no other traffic (I didn’t look, hard to see out the windows when it’s dark and we’re all trying to sleep).

We were picked up 3 hours before our flight in September. I was really looking forward to getting there early enough to sit down at a bar to watch sunday football & enjoy a meal & beers. After a couple stops at other hotels, a bit of traffic, & a very slow TSA line, all we had time to do was grab a Jersey Mike’s sandwich to take on the plane. It was really cutting it close.
I’m glad Disney is adding extra time to the process. Won’t bother me at all. I generally stay 8-12 nights on my vacations, one less hour inside the gates won’t hurt me. Especially when I can enjoy myself at the airport.

I wouldn’t have a problem with the extra time if I actually could enjoy myself at the airport. However, for a 6:30 am flight you get there 3 or more hours prior and there is nothing to do. Nothing open. No breakfast, no stores, not even TSA. I saw people napping in chairs, just waiting for TSA to even open and let us early flyers through. For a later flight I wouldn’t mind being there early, since I like the shops if I can get into them.

FOUR hours? ARE YOU KIDDING?! That means at worst… 1 hour from your resort to the airport (with awful traffic), 1 hour through checkin (lol, you don’t need to do that anymore…do it at your hotel if you’re doing Magical Express), 1 hour for security and you still have 30 minutes before you start to board. More realistic is you spend ~30 min in transit, 30-45 on security so you spend 2 hours sitting at your gate which still has a pile of people from the previous flight there. Stupid. I’d rather just spend $20-30 on uber to not deal with that.

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WDW News Today (WDWNT) is a daily-updated resource for news and information on the Disney Parks worldwide, focusing on the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. We also produce various podcasts, as well as a weekly FM radio show called WDW News Tonight. WDWNT was founded on July 8, 2007 by Tom Corless.